What If I Still Owe Money on My Car?

Here are some tips on selling even if you still owe the bank money on your vehicle.

Often sellers will still owe a bank of financial services company money on their vehicle and they are under the impression that they are stuck and cannot sell until it is paid off in full. This is simply not the case. Let’s look at how you can still exit the vehicle and some scenarios on how this would work.

If You Still Owe Money

If you still owe money on your car regardless of whether or not it is a bank or vehicle manufacturer lease, you are still able to get out of the vehicle so long as the bank or financial institution gets paid, and this can be done in a variety of ways, leaving you in either a positive or negative equity situation. The most important thing is that whoever lent you the money to begin with gets paid off; if the vehicle is leased, that all lease payments are made, that’s it. The bank doesn’t care if you complete your term; they just want their payments and interest.

Positive Equity Situation

Steve has a BMW and wants something newer. He still owes $28,000.00 on the vehicle. Steve goes into his local dealer to trade it in, but the dealer did not offer him enough money to get out of the vehicle with positive equity, so he visits Sell Your Car for Cash which appraises the vehicle and expects it to retail for $42,000.00. Sell Your Car for Cash offers $34,000.00, Steve gladly accepts the offer and Sell Your Car for Cash representatives pay-off the Bank the $28,000.00 and give Steve $6,000.00 cash. Steve now has $6,000.00 to put down on his new vehicle.

Negative Equity Situation

Patricia drives a Corvette and is paying nearly $1,200.00 per month in car payments. Her circumstances have recently changed and she is struggling to make the payments each month and is looking for a solution to exit the vehicle as soon as possible, however, Patricia still has 32 more payments left; if she makes all of these payments they will equal $38,400.00 more in payments to the bank. She is not sure what to do. So she visits Sell Your Car for Cash which appraises the vehicle and expects it to retail for $46,000.00 so she receives an offer for $39,000.00. Patricia gladly accepts the offer and instead of making her next payment of $1,200.00, she writes a check for just $600.00 (the difference in what is due to the bank) and she is done and relieved of her obligation and will not have to make any more payments for the Corvette.